


Through the Eyes of the Beholder

by jennisnotokay



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Eventual Happy Ending, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:08:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25554103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennisnotokay/pseuds/jennisnotokay
Summary: Felix knew who his soulmate was since he was five-years-old. He loved Sylvain since he first saw color.Sylvain knew his soulmate since he was six-years-old. He hid his love for Felix for fifteen years.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 4
Kudos: 94





	Through the Eyes of the Beholder

**Author's Note:**

> This is for my wife, who is the Sylvain to my Felix. I love her <3

They say that when you meet your soulmate, you see color for the first time. It is only a few moments. Your senses are overwhelmed by the sensation of all the beautiful colors mingling together. Those who speak of their experience speak of being so engulfed by the colors, they crave to see it again. 

The only way to always see colors is if your soulmate and you fall in love. Most people live their whole lives never seeing color. There are rare cases where soulmates meet and fall in love. Most people meet their soulmate when they were adults. The majority never fall in love with their soulmate. Soulmates weren’t always destined to fall in love.

Felix met his soulmate when he was only five-years-old.

When Felix Hugo Fraldarius met Sylvain Jose Gautier, the world exploded in the most enchanting colors. He was only just experiencing the world and hadn’t even had a chance to learn what a soulmate was. 

He remembers the moment the world burst into colors, he stood there, shocked, and then he cried, startled by what he saw and saddened that it was gone. Sylvain, having just met the young Felix and witnessing the sudden shock of colors, wrapped his arms around his soulmate and patted his back.

“Don’t be sad,” Sylvain had told him. He smiled brightly, “We’ll see it again.”

Felix’s eyes were filled with tears as he looked up at Sylvain, “You promise?”

“Promise.”

Yeah, right.

Felix watched as Sylvain flirted his way around Garreg Mach as if he was participating in some sort of philandering tournament and for all Felix knew, this was some sort of challenge issued to him by Lorenz. 

The most disgusting of it all is having grown up with Sylvain, he stupidly fell in love with the womanizer. 

It was some sort of sick joke from the Goddess, Felix was sure. Not only did she make Sylvain his soulmate, but she had the audacity to convince Felix that he was in love with him.

It was ridiculous. Sylvain was beyond anything redeeming. The other pretended to be an idiot despite the fact he was probably one of the smartest people in the monastery. He flirted with any pretty little thing that batted her eyelashes at him, even though he hated every single female who even looked at him with interest. More than anything, he pretended like he was happy with his life.

Sylvain Jose Gautier was miserable. He was subjugated to being the bearer of the Gautier line, forced to marry the best woman his parents could force on in hopes of passing on the family crest. His brother tormented him his entire childhood, almost killing him on occasion, and yet, he smiled as if nothing was wrong.

It was frustrating. It was downright maddening and irritating and Felix was slowly losing his patience. 

As he watched Sylvain, irritation fueling his entire being, he felt his anger slowly dissipate when the girl’s attention went to another female. His eyes focused on Sylvain and saw the small moment no one else witnessed. The moment where Sylvain took a deep breath and reoriented himself. He looked so sad, so tired.

All of the indignation he felt about Sylvain disappeared. He just pitied him. He wanted to reach out and offer any sort of warmth to him.

As if the other heard his thoughts, Sylvain glanced back at him. Felix’s face flushed and he looked away quickly. He forgot a small problem that came with having a soulmate and unrequited love towards said soulmate was that when he thought of Sylvain, Sylvain would see color for a small moment.

Sylvain must know by now after all these years that Felix was in love with him. He never said anything. Never mentioned the fact he would occasionally see color, possibly to not cause Felix embarrassment. 

Slowly, Felix raised his head, hoping Sylvain was looking away, but those golden eyes he remembered as a child were staring into his own. Sylvain smiled softly before turning his eyes to the girl again. 

Felix looked away again. It was better this way.

\--

Sylvain found the girls at Garreg Mach insufferable. They really had the audacity to lie and say the moment they saw Sylvain, they saw color. He would play along. He never lied and said he saw it, he’d always ask them to tell him what they saw.

They never had a good answer.

He knew what colors looked like. He had glimpses of it since it was six years old. He knew the stories behind it, but he never spoke about it. He was forced to ignore the fact he had a soulmate. The person the goddess gave to him.

Felix.

His Felix.

He forced himself to not think about Felix as more than his friend. It was years of pretending to be someone he wasn’t - and the magic of a mage.

Since he was a child, his parents forced him to drink potions that would suppress his effect on his soulmate. Sadly, it only meant that Felix would be deprived of the beautiful colors he could see.

He wished Felix could see what he did and if he stopped taking the supplements, the other would see that Sylvain loved him.

Oh, how he loved Felix.

He watched Felix speaking to Dmitri from his seat in the courtyard. There is some random girl beside him (he is pretty sure her name is Guinevere… or Gina… there is a G in her name), but his eyes are focused on his soulmate.

“Gisele-”

Gisele, that was it.

He glanced up to see Byleth standing there, her arms crossed over her chest, “Manuela is looking for you.”

The girl pouted and bit Sylvain goodbye before running off to find the teacher in question. Byleth watched her leave before turning her eyes to Sylvain’s, “Ingrid gave me something that belongs to you.”

“Oh, did she?” Sylvain smiled easily, resting his arms behind his head as he looked up at her, “And what could that be, teach? An invite for the three of us-”

“I beg you to not finish that thought,” she sighed, rolling her eyes. She reached into her pockets and pulled out a vial of liquid. If Sylvain could see color in that moment, he knew the color would be a sickly green. 

It was his supplement.

“Who are you hiding from?”

“What?”

Sylvain took the bottle from her as he stood up. While he had been looking up at her from his spot on the bench, he was now looking down at her, but despite that, she was still imposing. Their teacher was strong despite her size. She was the Enlightened one, after all. 

His fingers tightened around the bottle, staring down at it like the enemy that it was, “I have a duty.”

“We all do,” she replied, “I have a duty as a daughter to keep my father out of trouble. I have a duty as a friend to make sure Catherine and Shamir don’t tear each other apart during training. And I have a duty as your teacher to remind you that you are worth more than your crest.”

Sylvain’s eyes widened and he raised his eyes to look at her’s. From behind her, he saw Felix, still talking to Dmitri. He had a frustrated look on his face that seemed to mirror Dmitri’s pitiful one. They were arguing again. Felix huffed and started walking away. He paused for a moment to glance at Sylvain and his angered expression softened.

The colors returned for a moment, but they were gone just as quickly.

His heart ached.

Byleth reached out and touched his hand. He glanced at her and saw the soft smile on her lips, “I think Felix would agree.”

Sylvain’s expression was agonizing, “But my father-”

“I can handle Margrave Gautier,” she assured with a grin, “Do you doubt me?”

He chuckled pitifully, “No. I do not doubt you…, but after all these years, how do I explain this to Felix?”

Byleth shrugged easily, “Be honest. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you honest for once.”

Sylvain didn’t move for a moment. He soon glanced at Byleth, “I’ve never been good at being honest.”

She smiled easily, “No one is.”

\--  
Felix grunted as he sliced his blade at the target dummy. He performed a few more strikes before he took a step back and focused his breathing. He heard the giant doors behind him open, but he didn’t look. He was too focused on his training.

Whoever came into the training grounds had plenty of space to practice.

As he was about to strike the dummy again, arms wrapped around his waist. His entire body his seized up with rage and instinct took over. With his elbow, he pushed back with all his strength into the abdomen of the intruder. 

He turned quickly and raised his blade, only to lower it, “Sylvain?! Are you out of your mind?”

Sylvain was hugging his stomach, his eyes closed tightly. He had kneeled now from the pain, releasing a small cough, “Possibly. Probably. Definitely.”

Felix rolled his eyes and turned away from him as he sheathed his sword. He crossed his arms over his chest, “Who is idiotic enough to hug someone with a sword? I could have killed you.”

“Then you would have to follow me.”

The shorter male glanced off into space. The fact the two of them had two stupid promises and the only one most likely to happen was dying together. How pathetic.

“What do you want, Sylvain?”

He heard the other stand up again, brushing the gravel from his pants. He didn’t turn to look at him, only waiting, “I came to see you.”

“I could have assumed as much. I am the only one here and you lack discipline to train,” Felix scolded, his back still towards Sylvain. He avoided looking at the other as much as possible. It was easier.

Sylvain chuckled, “Ruthless as always. My heart is wounded.”

“I’m sure there is some frivolous girl ready to heal it,” Felix scoffed, rolling his eyes.

Usually, Sylvain would have some witty response when Felix called out his philandering, but the other said nothing for a moment. Sylvain not speaking was truly terrifying, and yet, he feared turning around and looking at him.

They were silent for a few moments before a soft hand touched his forearm. He glanced at it, “Felix, look at me. You haven’t looked at me for three days. Since the courtyard. Honestly, you avoiding looking at me most days.”

Felix was silent but resolute. He feared looking at Sylvain. Every time he did the other would know the truth. Every time he felt a strong urge of love for his soulmate, a part of his heart ripped apart. 

“I’d rather not.”

“Felix, please,” Sylvain’s voice was soft, pleading, but Felix couldn’t do it. He didn’t want to feel vulnerable. “I owe you an explanation and I want you to look at me.”

After several moments, Felix finally turned to look at Sylvain and as soon as he did, his vision exploded with color. Colors he hadn’t seen since he was five-years-old. It was overwhelming and he nearly lost balance from the dizzying colors, but Sylvain grabbed hold of him, hugging him close and kissing Felix.

It was too much. Far too much and once again, the need to survive took over and he pushed Sylvain away, “W-what is going on?”

Sylvain looked at Felix sadly as he pulled a vial from his pocket. Felix had seen those before. His brother, Glenn, offered him one when he was younger, but he refused. It would have made his life easier if he just drank the damn liquid, but he was no coward either.

Maybe he was a little bit of a coward.

“Since we first met, my parents forced me to drink this,” Sylvain admitted, “I didn’t get it as a child. There are soulmates who are just friends and still love each other, but as I grew older, I realized, I never just wanted you as my best friend. I wanted you to be mine. Not a single girl who had touched my arm has ever touched my heart as you have.”

Felix felt like the world was spinning. This can’t be real. There was no way that Sylvain had been in love with him this entire time, but the world was so full of color. The orange of Sylvain’s hair was so vibrant and his golden eyes were intoxicating. 

While he was distracted, Sylvain came forward and took Felix’s face, and without any more hesitation, he kissed Felix. Something he’s wanted to do since he was young.

Felix’s hands moved to Sylvain’s chest as if he was going to push the other away, but his fingers just curled into Sylvain’s tunic, holding him in place. The kiss was intense and desperate after years of holding back. Both of them felt all the tension leave their bodies. 

Finally, they pulled away. Sylvain rested his forehead against Felix’s forehead and he had a soft smile, “I’m sorry I made you wait.”

The raven-haired male chuckled lightly, “You were always worth waiting for, Sylvain.”

Sylvain grinned, “Truly?”

“Yes,” Felix kissed Sylvain’s lips lightly. He’d always wait for Sylvain.


End file.
